It could be one of 3 things (why limit your choices to 2 ?)Police beatings are also bad. Am not advocating for police violence. If the guy is stealing its reasonably expected that he will be restrained and in the process beaten. But after you have taken him down there is no reason to whale on him like that with everyone cheering him on as if they give two shits about justice. I can flip that around and ask what people's reaction would be if it was a white man. Would you display the same lack of empathy? Am sure there is a race angle to the way people are reacting to this, but that's for people to introspect on. I mean it has to be one of two things. Either these fuckwits cheering the beating on or calling for more violence have a morbid fascination with seeing violence, which implies some mental health issue. OR it is good ol' racism where in another time they'd be part of a lynch mob...
When the state abdicates people who have to make a living end up taking the law into their own hands, simple as that,
I've known one guy in the states who has a similar business, shoplifting comes with the territory.
On the one hand you want to sympathize with the poor, on the other hand you have to survive and feed the family, survival trumps everything.
Pretty sure you don't go to work packing a gun (the US is fucked up no question about that).
It's much easier to lecture and preach from the safety of the ivory tower.